Feminist theatre emerged from the second wave of feminism in the United States. This second wave was an off shoot of the civil rights movement of the 1960's and came about from a grassroots movement that allowed some (white & middle-class) women to speak to each other freely without a mediator. Radical feminism, which differed the feminism before that, thought that gender inequality was systemic and the entire system needed upheaval. This racial thinking served as the voice for early feminist theatre and women's theatre groups sprung up in the late 60's and 70's using guerilla tactics and street theatre. Feminist theatre later declined save for certain groups that performed up until the early '90s.
Why Trifles is feminist theatre: Trifles can be considered part of feminist theatre even though it was written in the first wave of feminism, and not the second because it still hold the principles of feminist theatre. Trifles hits at the underlying core of what feminist plays sought to achieve according to Michelene Wandor, English playwright and author of Impact of Feminism on Theatre, which is to "address itself to the fabric of ordinary people's lives and support their struggle" (77). Before Trifles, it was unlikely that any man talked about the hardship of domestic abuse and an unloving marriage on a women and even less so written in a mass media form like theatre, in turn this play opened a conversation on things considered by men in society as of little value. Glaspell took this as an opportunity to write something that was needed to show that women had conflicts between themselves and separate from their ties to a man or as Wandor puts it, it shows "the way women interact, function, love and struggle with one" (81). Trifles is a Glaspell's love letter from one woman to another that tells the audience that it is okay to not be submissive and its okay to have your own goals, aspirations, and motivations separate from a man, which is feminism at its core.
Wandor, Michelene. “The Impact of Feminism on the Theatre.” Feminist Review, vol. 18, no. 1, 1984, pp. 76–92
Summary:
Feminist theatre emerged from the second wave of feminism in the United States. This second wave was an off shoot of the civil rights movement of the 1960's and came about from a grassroots movement that allowed some (white & middle-class) women to speak to each other freely without a mediator. Radical feminism, which differed the feminism before that, thought that gender inequality was systemic and the entire system needed upheaval. This racial thinking served as the voice for early feminist theatre and women's theatre groups sprung up in the late 60's and 70's using guerilla tactics and street theatre. Feminist theatre later declined save for certain groups that performed up until the early '90s.Why Trifles is feminist theatre:
Trifles can be considered part of feminist theatre even though it was written in the first wave of feminism, and not the second because it still hold the principles of feminist theatre. Trifles hits at the underlying core of what feminist plays sought to achieve according to Michelene Wandor, English playwright and author of Impact of Feminism on Theatre, which is to "address itself to the fabric of ordinary people's lives and support their struggle" (77). Before Trifles, it was unlikely that any man talked about the hardship of domestic abuse and an unloving marriage on a women and even less so written in a mass media form like theatre, in turn this play opened a conversation on things considered by men in society as of little value. Glaspell took this as an opportunity to write something that was needed to show that women had conflicts between themselves and separate from their ties to a man or as Wandor puts it, it shows "the way women interact, function, love and struggle with one" (81). Trifles is a Glaspell's love letter from one woman to another that tells the audience that it is okay to not be submissive and its okay to have your own goals, aspirations, and motivations separate from a man, which is feminism at its core.
Wandor, Michelene. “The Impact of Feminism on the Theatre.” Feminist Review, vol. 18, no. 1, 1984, pp. 76–92